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Gay Man Diagnosed With HIV, Only Has Sex With HIV+ Men for 9 yrs, OOPS - Misdiagnosed

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Pollux

Pollux

Member
HUFFINGTON POST LINK
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A veteran who was led to believe he was HIV positive for nine years is suing the hospital, health department and doctors, it emerged today. Bobby Russell, 43, from Kentucky, has spent almost a decade of his life on heavy medication, avoided his friends and family, only had intimate relationships with people who were HIV positive and became so depressed he considered suicide. He is suing the University of Kentucky Medical Center, the Bluegrass Care Clinic, the Fayette County Health Department and a long list of doctors who allegedly misdiagnosed him and treated him for the sexually transmitted disease. According to the lawsuit, the tests to confirm he had the disease were never completed by anyone and all the routine tests carried out since his initial diagnosis in 2004 showed either negative or indeterminable results – which he was unaware of until he requested his medical records last year.
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...Well, damn.
 
A

AbsolutBro

Member
jaw dropping.

holy shit I can not imagine what the must have felt like when he was told he was positive, and now to be told it was wrong all along. Just


sweet fuck I can't begin to imagine.
 
K

KibblesBits

Member
ridethepiggy said:
Holy crap...
And he only has had sex since with those who are HIV positive and he still doesn't have it?
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Doesn't mean he had unprotected sex... there's a chance to sero convert if you are HIV+ and sleeping with others who are HIV+. That can make things worse for you.
 
D

Derwind

Member
Holy shit! I'd be flipping tables if I was misdiagnosed like this! God damn!!!

ridethepiggy said:
Holy crap...
And he only has had sex since with those who are HIV positive and he still doesn't have it?
Click to expand...

Wait he's clean? After having sex with other HIV positive partners? For 9 years??

Is this true?!

KibblesBits said:
Doesn't mean he had unprotected sex... there's a chance to sero convert if you are HIV+ and sleeping with others who are HIV+. That can make things worse for you.
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Still is pretty amazing!
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Guy is going to get millions. This is the kind of thing that bankrupts hospitals.

Derwind said:
Holy shit! I'd be flipping tables if I was misdiagnosed like this! God damn!!!



Wait he's clean? After having sex with other HIV positive partners? For 9 years??

Is this true?!
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Article says that he doesn't know right now. Probably getting it checked out. If he does, I wouldn't be surprised to see this go to trial since the hospital will just argue on the causation issue.
 
Lamel

Lamel

Banned
At the very least, he is VERY fortunate to not have it now even after sleeping with other's with HIV.

What a shitty situation though. How does that go overlooked for so long?
 
D

Derwind

Member
Angry Grimace said:
Article says that he doesn't know right now. Probably getting it checked out. If he does, I wouldn't be surprised to see this go to trial since the hospital will just argue on the causation issue.
Click to expand...

I really hope he's clean, would make an amazing news story and he really deserves as much. But yeah he's definitely going to make bank after this.
 
A

Acorn

Member
Derwind said:
I really hope he's clean, would make an amazing news story and he really deserves as much. But yeah he's definitely going to make bank after this.
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My thoughts too. I really hope he is ok and he takes these doctors to the cleaners.
 
S

Shahadan

Member
I've always wondered if someone already taking pills and shit for hiv while negative would reduce his chances to get it or something.
Or at least drastically slow the virus progression
 
J

Josh7289

Member
Assuming the story is totally true (we only know one side), sue the fuck out of them! This much negligence should not be tolerated.
 
Fox Mulder

Fox Mulder

Member
it's bullshit that this can even happen, even if he's going to win the powerball.

Our whole medical system needs to be blown up and rebuit. It's like those real medical mystery shows where patients go through "mysterious" aliments for years and eventually gets correctly diagnosed by a doctor that actually gives a shit.
 
M

Miles X

Member
Poor guy, sue them for all they're worth.

I actually had a similar incident but with something that was curable, thank fuck.

Edit - Other way around tho, they forgot to tell me I had something and casually brought it up over the phone a month later when they remembered.
 
A

Alric

Member
That's pretty crazy. Probably taking all the meds kept him from catching it while have sex with HIV positive people. Still that is a serious mindfuck.
 
K

kirblar

Member
Shahadan said:
I've always wondered if someone already taking pills and shit for hiv while negative would reduce his chances to get it or something.
Or at least drastically slow the virus progression
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It would definitely be an additional barrier. It's just that for people in most situations, the side effects make it not worth it.
 
P

Petrie

Banned
bkfount said:
it's bullshit that this can even happen, even if he's going to win the powerball.

Our whole medical system needs to be blown up and rebuit. It's like those real medical mystery shows where patients go through "mysterious" aliments for years and eventually gets correctly diagnosed by a doctor that actually gives a shit.
Click to expand...

People are going to get misdiagnosed. Shit is going to slip between the cracks. People are human.
 
C

cashman

Banned
I'm pretty sure there are more positive HIV tests for people with out it than for people who actually do have it.

Always get a second test done, I guess is the lesson here.

edit: Oh god, they never actually ran the tests. That's just fucking horrible.
 
P

Palmer_v1

Member
Dynopia said:
Poor guy, sue them for all they're worth.

I actually had a similar incident but with something that was curable, thank fuck.

Edit - Other way around tho, they forgot to tell me I had something and casually brought it up over the phone a month later when they remembered.
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You had one job!
 
N

Nerokis

Member
Wow. Not only was a false diagnosis given, but they gave him utterly horrible advice. People who are HIV positive can still have sexual relations with people who aren't. The right thing to do wasn't "only have sex with partners who are HIV positive," but to take all the necessary precautions and be completely open about his status. The advice he was given borders on discriminatory.

Poor guy.

cashman said:
I'm pretty sure there are more positive HIV tests for people with out it than for people who actually do have it.

Always get a second test done, I guess is the lesson here.

edit: Oh god, they never actually ran the tests. That's just fucking horrible.
Click to expand...

There are far more people who are unaware they have it than people who falsely believe they have it.
 
M

mantidor

Member
kirblar said:
It would definitely be an additional barrier. It's just that for people in most situations, the side effects make it not worth it.
Click to expand...


I knew the drugs for HIV made the seropositive partner less likely to transmit it, but does it also have effects against recieving it? I know there are special "cocktails" for extreme cases like rape, but those are not the same as the retrovirals, or are they?

Ok I actually have no idea. I do know there's a very small but still significant part of the population that is actualy inmune, initially I thought this guy was one of them.
 
D

Dash27

Member
That blows. Bright side... $$$. 10 years tho, ouch.

I just saw a House episode where the dude was diagnosed with HIV, but early in the show so you knew that was wrong... anyway they cited something like 1 in 5000 is a false positive.
 
W

Wilsongt

Member
If there is one thing to take a load of asses to court for, it would be something like this.

God damn. False positives are terrible. However, how many additional tests did he have? Most people with HIV get tested again regulately, at least to check T-Cell count and whatnot.
 
K

kirblar

Member
mantidor said:
I knew the drugs for HIV made the seropositive partner less likely to transmit it, but does it also have effects against recieving it? I know there are special "cocktails" for extreme cases like rape, but those are not the same as the retrovirals, or are they?

Ok I actually have no idea. I do know there's a very small but still significant part of the population that is actualy inmune, initially I thought this guy was one of them.
Click to expand...
The cocktails aren't actually just for rape - they're for any scenario where you think you may have been exposed. It's basically a big dose of the same retroviral drugs.

Hopefully this was just a terrible oversight and not "don't bother with the test, cause he's gay."
 
U

umop_3pisdn

Member
CartridgeBlower said:
So he never got a second opinion?
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Honestly, I don't think it's hard to understand why. Information that you have this disease is going to be so life changing, either you're going to assume that the people telling you are taking it seriously, or the change in your attitude in accepting that you have this disease at face value is such that thinking "I should get a second opinion" almost feels like a kind of frivolous wishful thinking or something. Like when the pendulum swings from "Oh I hope I don't have this" to "I guess I do" the momentum is so much that you're already imagining the rest of your life differently, getting a second opinion isn't really something that you're going to think about unless you already have this clear and sober logical understanding that this is something you should do regardless. I don't think I would have that.
 
M

MIMIC

Banned
According to the lawsuit, the tests to confirm he had the disease were never completed by anyone and all the routine tests carried out since his initial diagnosis in 2004 showed either negative or indeterminable results – which he was unaware of until he requested his medical records last year.
Click to expand...

The heck? That's straight up negligence right there.
 
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